UPDATE - Turkish imports hit $17.4 billion in October

UPDATE WITH MORE FIGURES

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's imports totaled $17.4 billion in October, an 8% rise compared to the same month last year, said the country's statistical authority on Friday.

The data showed exports were $15.6 billion with annual decrease of 0.1%.

"In October 2019 foreign trade deficit was 1.8 billion dollars with a 263.6% increase compared with October 2018," the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.

It added in October 2019, exports coverage of imports was 89.6% while it was 96.9% in the same month last year.

- Germany, main partner for exports

In October, the main partner country for exports was Germany with $1.3 billion, followed by the U.K. and Italy, $950 million and $941 million, respectively.

The top country for Turkey's imports was Russia with 1.8 billion dollars, followed by China with 1.7 billion dollars, Germany with 1.5 billion dollars and the U.S. with 976 million dollars.

According to TurkStat, the ratio of manufacturing industries products in total exports was 93.2% this month, adding the proportion of high-technology products in manufacturing industries exports was 3.9%.

As for the imports outlook, the fraction of manufacturing industries' products in total imports was 78.5%, in which the ratio of high-technology products was 16.2% in October.

On the other hand, according to the general trade system this month, exports were $16.3 billion with a 1.5% decrease and imports were $18.1 billion with a 10.8% increase compared with the same month last year.

Exports coverage of imports was 89.9% in October, it added.

Foreign trade statistics are calculated by using two different trading systems, namely the special trade system and the general trade system.

In the special trade system, data of customs warehouses and free zones are not included in statistics but in general trade one.

Erhan Aslanoglu, a professor of economics at the Istanbul-based Piri Reis University, said these figures reflect the base effect after the economic shock last year but it is also an indicator of the recovery in the production side.